Engineering Product Cleanliness in a Contamination-Sensitive World
High Precision
Measurement
Brookhuis develops high-precision measurement and contamination control systems for cleanroom environments where particle deposition directly affects product performance, yield, and reliability. Product sensitivity continues to increase. A single particle settling on a critical surface can lead to defects, rework, reduced yield, or mission failure. In modern manufacturing environments, contamination risk must be managed with precision, consistency, and traceability.
Brookhuis enables manufacturers to convert contamination from an invisible risk into measurable, controllable process data. The result is not only improved cleanliness, but predictable product performance at scale.
Brookhuis develops high-precision measurement and contamination control systems for cleanroom environments where particle deposition directly affects product performance, yield, and reliability. Product sensitivity continues to increase. A single particle settling on a critical surface can lead to defects, rework, reduced yield, or mission failure. In modern manufacturing environments, contamination risk must be managed with precision, consistency, and traceability.
Brookhuis enables manufacturers to convert contamination from an invisible risk into measurable, controllable process data. The result is not only improved cleanliness, but predictable product performance at scale.
Thought
Leadership
Koos Agricola joined Brookhuis Applied Technologies after four decades at Océ Technologies (now Canon Production Printing), where he established cleanroom and contamination control programs for advanced printhead manufacturing. He studied Applied Physics at the University of Twente and spent his career at the intersection of product surface cleanliness and contamination physics. In collaboration with Dr. William Whyte of the University of Glasgow — one of the foremost authorities on cleanroom science — he published the peer-reviewed research of 2015 and 2016 that established the quantitative relationship between particle deposition rate and product contamination probability. That research became the scientific basis for ISO 14644-17:2021, the international standard he helped draft and chaired.
Koos’s consultancy work at Brookhuis spans electronics, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, semiconductor back-end assembly, and defense across three continents. The seven customer cases published by Brookhuis — from a 50% reduction in microorganism contamination at a medical device manufacturer to a €300,000 three-month cost recovery at an Asian electronics multinational — represent a fraction of the contamination investigations and improvement programs his experience informs. That accumulated knowledge is not held in a file cabinet. It is embedded in the calculation logic of CleanroomIQ and in the alarm threshold guidance of every APMON deployment.
Koos Agricola joined Brookhuis Applied Technologies after four decades at Océ Technologies (now Canon Production Printing), where he established cleanroom and contamination control programs for advanced printhead manufacturing. He studied Applied Physics at the University of Twente and spent his career at the intersection of product surface cleanliness and contamination physics. In collaboration with Dr. William Whyte of the University of Glasgow — one of the foremost authorities on cleanroom science — he published the peer-reviewed research of 2015 and 2016 that established the quantitative relationship between particle deposition rate and product contamination probability. That research became the scientific basis for ISO 14644-17:2021, the international standard he helped draft and chaired.
Koos’s consultancy work at Brookhuis spans electronics, automotive, aerospace, medical devices, semiconductor back-end assembly, and defense across three continents. The seven customer cases published by Brookhuis — from a 50% reduction in microorganism contamination at a medical device manufacturer to a €300,000 three-month cost recovery at an Asian electronics multinational — represent a fraction of the contamination investigations and improvement programs his experience informs. That accumulated knowledge is not held in a file cabinet. It is embedded in the calculation logic of CleanroomIQ and in the alarm threshold guidance of every APMON deployment.
Product
Leadership
Brookhuis operates as a specialised partner in applications where measurement directly influences production outcomes.
Customers choose Brookhuis when:
- process stability is critical
- variability impacts yield and quality
- measurement must perform under industrial conditions
- results must be traceable and defensible
Brookhuis focuses on high-value applications where precision, repeatability, and integration are essential.
Brookhuis operates as a specialised partner in applications where measurement directly influences production outcomes.
Customers choose Brookhuis when:
- process stability is critical
- variability impacts yield and quality
- measurement must perform under industrial conditions
- results must be traceable and defensible
Brookhuis focuses on high-value applications where precision, repeatability, and integration are essential.
Data-driven
Contamination Control
Brookhuis operates with a clear vision: to make contamination control increasingly predictable through measurement and data intelligence.
This means moving from: Airborne particle assumptions to product-based contamination control.
The long-term objective is to enable manufacturers to understand contamination risk proactively, optimise cleanroom investments, and maintain consistent product quality across production environments.
Brookhuis operates with a clear vision: to make contamination control increasingly predictable through measurement and data intelligence.
This means moving from: Airborne particle assumptions to product-based contamination control.
The long-term objective is to enable manufacturers to understand contamination risk proactively, optimise cleanroom investments, and maintain consistent product quality across production environments.
Core values
Ownership
Accountability for results
Improving Continuously
Ongoing development of products and processes
Keep on Learning
Investing in knowledge and innovation
Exceed Expectations
Delivering consistent added value for customers. These values guide both internal operations and customer engagement
Core values
Ownership
Accountability for results
Improving Continuously
Ongoing development of products and processes
Keep on Learning
Investing in knowledge and innovation
Exceed Expectations
Delivering consistent added value for customers. These values guide both internal operations and customer engagement
People Expertise as a
Competitive Advantage
Brookhuis invests in its people as a strategic asset.
The organisation benefits from more than forty years of contamination science developed by Koos Agricola, chairman of ISO 14644-17:2021 and one of the pioneers in particle deposition rate applications.
Brookhuis focuses on:
attracting and developing high-level technical talent
continuous learning
strong ownership across teams
Expertise in contamination physics, cleanroom operations, and customer applications is essential to delivering effective solutions.
At Brookhuis, scientific knowledge and practical experience are integral to the product offering.
Brookhuis invests in its people as a strategic asset.
The organisation benefits from more than forty years of contamination science developed by Koos Agricola, chairman of ISO 14644-17:2021 and one of the pioneers in particle deposition rate applications.
Brookhuis focuses on:
attracting and developing high-level technical talent
continuous learning
strong ownership across teams
Expertise in contamination physics, cleanroom operations, and customer applications is essential to delivering effective solutions.
At Brookhuis, scientific knowledge and practical experience are integral to the product offering.
Market
Position
Brookhuis serves leading organisations in:
electronics and high-tech manufacturing
automotive production
aerospace and space programs
medical device manufacturing
semiconductor back-end assembly
defense and classified facilities
These industries require reliable, production-integrated contamination measurement to ensure quality, compliance, and performance.
Brookhuis focuses on applications where particle deposition directly determines operational success.
Brookhuis serves leading organisations in:
electronics and high-tech manufacturing
automotive production
aerospace and space programs
medical device manufacturing
semiconductor back-end assembly
defense and classified facilities
These industries require reliable, production-integrated contamination measurement to ensure quality, compliance, and performance.
Brookhuis focuses on applications where particle deposition directly determines operational success.
Quality, Standards and
Data Integrity
Brookhuis operates under internationally recognised standards, including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.
The company also played a leading role in the development of ISO 14644-17:2021, the international standard for particle deposition rate applications.
This ensures:
structured quality management
continuous improvement
secure and reliable data handling
traceable contamination data
Measurement data increasingly supports critical decisions and must meet the highest standards of accuracy and integrity.
Brookhuis operates under internationally recognised standards, including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.
The company also played a leading role in the development of ISO 14644-17:2021, the international standard for particle deposition rate applications.
This ensures:
structured quality management
continuous improvement
secure and reliable data handling
traceable contamination data
Measurement data increasingly supports critical decisions and must meet the highest standards of accuracy and integrity.
Operational
Impact
Brookhuis systems support manufacturers in achieving:
improved process stability
higher yield
reduced contamination-related losses
consistent product quality
stronger compliance and audit readiness
By combining measurement with data-driven insight, customers gain not only visibility, but control over contamination risk.
Brookhuis positions itself as a specialised technology partner for contamination-sensitive industries seeking to improve control, predictability, and product performance.
Brookhuis systems support manufacturers in achieving:
improved process stability
higher yield
reduced contamination-related losses
consistent product quality
stronger compliance and audit readiness
By combining measurement with data-driven insight, customers gain not only visibility, but control over contamination risk.
Brookhuis positions itself as a specialised technology partner for contamination-sensitive industries seeking to improve control, predictability, and product performance.
Born in Science
Apmon started with TNO
The instrument that measures particle deposition in real time did not start as a product. It started as a research question at one of Europe’s leading applied-science institutes.
APMON was developed together with TNO — the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. In its earliest days, every instrument carried the same three words: innovated with TNO.
Most measurement instruments are engineered to meet a specification. APMON was different. It began with a scientific problem that had no good solution yet: how do you count the particles that actually fall onto a product, in real time, while production is running? For decades the industry had answered that question with witness plates and laboratory microscopes — slow, expensive, and blind to what happens between measurements. TNO believed there was a better way, and set out to prove it.
The instrument that measures particle deposition in real time did not start as a product. It started as a research question at one of Europe’s leading applied-science institutes.
APMON was developed together with TNO — the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. In its earliest days, every instrument carried the same three words: innovated with TNO.
Most measurement instruments are engineered to meet a specification. APMON was different. It began with a scientific problem that had no good solution yet: how do you count the particles that actually fall onto a product, in real time, while production is running? For decades the industry had answered that question with witness plates and laboratory microscopes — slow, expensive, and blind to what happens between measurements. TNO believed there was a better way, and set out to prove it.
From a Research Idea
to a Working Instrument
The origin of APMON lies in a TNO SBIR programme, through which TNO brought promising scientific ideas to innovative companies capable of turning them into products. In 2011, TNO presented the concept under a deliberately plain title: the rapid counting of falling dust particles for cleaner products.
The idea was that contamination risk is driven not by the particles suspended in the air, but by the particles that land on the product. Measuring that deposition — continuously, and in the environment itself rather than in a laboratory — would give manufacturers something they had never had: the ability to see contamination as it happened and act before the product was lost.
TNO developed the underlying detection science, with Dr. Anton Duisterwinkel among the researchers driving the work. From there the concept was engineered and validated into a working instrument by Brookhuis and brought to market by Technology of Sense, both companies, led by the same management team. TNO remained closely involved through the realisation of the first working systems.
The origin of APMON lies in a TNO SBIR programme, through which TNO brought promising scientific ideas to innovative companies capable of turning them into products. In 2011, TNO presented the concept under a deliberately plain title: the rapid counting of falling dust particles for cleaner products.
The idea was that contamination risk is driven not by the particles suspended in the air, but by the particles that land on the product. Measuring that deposition — continuously, and in the environment itself rather than in a laboratory — would give manufacturers something they had never had: the ability to see contamination as it happened and act before the product was lost.
TNO developed the underlying detection science, with Dr. Anton Duisterwinkel among the researchers driving the work. From there the concept was engineered and validated into a working instrument by Brookhuis and brought to market by Technology of Sense, both companies, led by the same management team. TNO remained closely involved through the realisation of the first working systems.
Why the Scientific Origin
still matters
A company can claim its instrument is accurate. It is a different thing entirely when the measurement principle was developed and validated by an independent, internationally respected research institute. That is the foundation APMON was built on, and it is why the instrument earned early credibility with the most demanding users in the field — the semiconductor, aerospace, and precision-manufacturing companies whose products fail at the scale of a single particle.
The "powered by TNO" mark that appeared on the first instruments was not a marketing line. It was an accurate statement of where the technology came from: peer-reviewed science, not a workshop prototype. That scientific DNA is still visible in how APMON works today, and in the standards it helped inform — including ISO 14644-17, the international standard for particle deposition rate.
A company can claim its instrument is accurate. It is a different thing entirely when the measurement principle was developed and validated by an independent, internationally respected research institute. That is the foundation APMON was built on, and it is why the instrument earned early credibility with the most demanding users in the field — the semiconductor, aerospace, and precision-manufacturing companies whose products fail at the scale of a single particle.
The "powered by TNO" mark that appeared on the first instruments was not a marketing line. It was an accurate statement of where the technology came from: peer-reviewed science, not a workshop prototype. That scientific DNA is still visible in how APMON works today, and in the standards it helped inform — including ISO 14644-17, the international standard for particle deposition rate.
Where the Relationship
stands today
APMON has moved well beyond its origins. It is now in its second generation, developed and advanced by Brookhuis, and the ongoing engineering of the instrument and the wider measurement programme is Brookhuis’s own work. TNO is no longer involved in the product’s development — but the relationship did not end. Brookhuis and TNO continue to collaborate in other areas, a partnership that reflects the shared starting point: turning rigorous science into tools that industry can actually use.
That is, in the end, what the TNO collaboration gave APMON — and what still defines Brookhuis. Not just an instrument, but a way of working that begins with evidence and ends with a decision a manufacturer can defend.
APMON has moved well beyond its origins. It is now in its second generation, developed and advanced by Brookhuis, and the ongoing engineering of the instrument and the wider measurement programme is Brookhuis’s own work. TNO is no longer involved in the product’s development — but the relationship did not end. Brookhuis and TNO continue to collaborate in other areas, a partnership that reflects the shared starting point: turning rigorous science into tools that industry can actually use.
That is, in the end, what the TNO collaboration gave APMON — and what still defines Brookhuis. Not just an instrument, but a way of working that begins with evidence and ends with a decision a manufacturer can defend.
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